Tutontow

Thanks everyone for the warm wishes.

I go to Vegas a lot. Been there 44 times. I know exactly where I stand and what I can get from the casinos I frequent out there. Basically my comps have gone up over the years as my play has increased. Makes sense. The whole Carnival casino "comps" are the very reason we are considering another line for our next cruise. The gambling at night (and sometimes all day on a sea day) is a big part of the cruise for us so I'd like to deal with someone who appreciates our level of play.

Do you play tables or machines? It seems like the machine comp system is a lot more accurate than the tables. We play tables and I can tell you it hardly ever makes sense what we get comped. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad.

We used to get free air and hotel to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi. Our play increased over time. Then it seemed like once they knew we were regulars the offers dried up even though we were playing more and at a higher level.

She did a fantastic job! She needs to let us all know how and where she got those lights! Tell her, she's the bomb! And Happy Birthday!

Ten bucks at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ACBQSY4/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After reading this post yesterday I checked and my husband and I neither one had any casino offers. We usually spend several thousand dollars in the casino. That being said, I decided to check my friends VIFP accounts. I book all the cruises for our group so I have everyones numbers. Lo and behold my friend who has spent a total of maybe $20 in a penny slot for a whole cruise got an offer. My head looked like it was on a lazy susan. It was spinning. So I decided to check others who have never spent ANY money in the casino and they had offers. My PVP knows I am the one responsible for these people cruising. They wouldn't go anywhere if I didn't come up with the ideas and do all the work. It just infuriates me that I am eligible for the "Diddly-Squat" award for booking all these people AND spending Boo-Koo bucks in the casino.

 

Actually I am not expecting a free cruise but a little something would help.

There is no rhyme or reason to how these offers work and in many cases I can say the same for land based casinos. I deal with it by playing at a level I can play at comfortably and have fun. If I get any offers or comps great, otherwise I still had fun and maybe even stayed even or won a little.

If I didn't have this attitude I would go crazy trying to figure out how and who they reward. I could write a book about my dealings with casinos and comps.

She did a great job! I love it! Hope you had a great birthday!

Thanks we had a blast. So good in fact we are cruising Carnival again in 10 days.

We sailed on The Legend to celebrate my 57th birthday. My wife decorated the cabin door. Based upon the reactions we received I think it was a hit. I thought the battery operated lights were a real hoot. A couple of people commented that they thought Mike must have been about twelve years old because of the Donald Duck. BTW I like blackjack :>)

We made sure to clean the door real well when we disembarked so the cabin steward wouldn't have a headache with it.

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I never contacted them for this one since it was free from the casino and had to use their promo code anyway. Just arrived home today and was a bit stunned I didn't "earn" another free cruise. I had the most points ever from playing at the casino.

 

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Once again no rhyme or reason to their Players Club. I am just grateful when they give us something and just shrug my shoulders when they don't.

This is probably dumb but what is a premier cruise?

Check out my review of my premier cruise. It was fantastic and I would go again in a heartbeat if I wasn't going on a free cruise I was given on my premier cruise. Here is a link to my review. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2046440

With the implementation of FTTF which I love as being Platinum it allows us early access to our cabin as well as early luggage. However our cruise last fall on the Liberty prompted me for the first time in 14 cruises to bring a package of Clorox wipes with us when we boarded the Dream in April. When we first started cruising back in 2007 the cabins were immaculate when we boarded. Now I've noticed in the past few cruises that our cabin has traces of previous guests when we first board. Toothpaste on the sink shelves, dust and sticky residue on the desk area were all noticeable in our cabin on the Liberty. Our room steward did take care of it but it left me feeling that cleanings are quicker and more rushed now.

I think you nailed it. They are so rushed to get the cabins ready they can't / aren't doing a thorough job of cleaning. When I boarded the Legend in May there was a wine glass on my balcony with a cigarette butt in it. Somebody had been using the glass as an ash tray. Not a big deal just not a pleasant way to be welcomed to your room. After that the room was spotless and the steward received extra tip money.

We were there last month and saw several people here snorkeling etc.

http://paradiserestaurant.ky/watersports/

They all raved about it. It is a short walk from the cruise port and for $15.00 pp you can rent snorkel gear and a locker. They also have food and drinks. I regret not snorkeling there, the water is so beautiful. I guarantee you on my next cruise I will not be so self conscious about my 57 year old body and I will do some snorkeling. The water in Grand Cayman is amazing.

Great review. I really like your writing style. I have a friend who manages one of the pharmacy's I think you work for. Based upon my observation they aren't real employee friendly. Anyway thank you for taking the time to write, we will be on the Sunshine in two weeks and your review just makes me that much more excited.

On a different note Longhorn is one of those restaurants you never hear much about, I mean I never hear someone saying we went to Longhorn last night. I find that strange because every time I have eaten there the food is outstanding.

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

How difficult is it to find a cab from Atlantis back to the ship?

 

Very easy. Just walk outside the main entrance and they are lined up. Most are vans that hold 8-10 people so they like to fill them before they take off and you sometimes have to wait till they get a full capacity but other than that no problem. Our rate was $4 per person each way.

 

 

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Great and thanks. I am like you, I hate to see an open casino go to waste.

It's your kids best friend and he just found out he was cruising the same week. You would think he would have heard something months the ago. When I was a kid if I asked my parents to change vacation plans they would have said too bad for you. I would have been happy as Heck I was going on a cruise at all. Kids are really spoiled now a days. We were lucky if we went anywhere.

 

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My father put us six kids through private schools from grade one through high school. If I asked for a cruise he would have put on a Hawaiian shirt and said here watch the Love Boat :>)

We did grab a taxi and go over to Atlantis to play in their casino for a few hours but most of this cruise was spent on the ship.

 

How difficult is it to find a cab from Atlantis back to the ship?

Oh, here’s another thing I liked about the steakhouse. There was a family sitting in back with small children and one of them started crying loudly (throwing a tantrum actually). The maitre’d was there in a flash. The father took the child out and came back in about ten minutes with everything under control. Now, I know these things happen when you have children and I’m sure the father would have done that on his own too, but I liked how the maitre’d was pro-active to insure the comfort of the rest of the patrons rather than just ignoring the situation.

I would sure like to see that become the norm for every mid to high end dining establishment. I understand kids will be kids and I can tolerate it at Mickey D's but when in a steakhouse I would expect the parents to deal with it and that is often not the case.

Since you have anytime, you might consider giving it a try one night to see how he does. Just get there as soon as it opens.

LuLu

I agree. We got right in and usually we were out in less than an hour. The food was surprisingly good and we were glad we did it. The braised lamb shank, beef stroganoff and red snapper were all very good.

The bottom line is my dream since I was 18 was to go on a cruise I'm now 35 and it just seems like it's never going to happen. My boyfriend doesn't want to take the kids and so our compromise was to take the shortest cruise available which is how we found the Miami fri-Monday cruise.he really wants it to just be us and my kids are getting to the point of adult hood and I really wanted to make this happen for them. Thank you all who have been kind and helpful to us that have no idea what they are doing, and to you that are not I that I am not on a cruise with you!

CHERBEAR16 make every effort to make your dreams come true. Life is way too short to not make every effort to make your dreams become a reality. I spent 33 years as a first responder, I have seen first hand how peoples life can be changed in the blink of an eye.

I always say "Die with memories, not dreams".

Some suggestions for you...

Have the kids get part time jobs so they'll have their own spending money.

Amen, Amen and Amen. I worked some sort of a job since I was 12 years old. The same goes for my wife. It never hurt us one bit and we are both thankful because it taught us to be responsible with our money. Fast forward 40 years and we are both retired, living comfortably and able to cruise any time we want.

Work is not a bad thing and there is nothing wrong with a teenage pitching in and paying some of their own bills.

I do hope the OP allows money for tips.

The only fall down drunks I have ever seen on any ship was always into the wee hours of the morning. I stopped seeing any of it when I stopped hanging out into the wee hours of the morning.

Ditto

Sounds like she was on the Fascination.

 

Its always funny to me when people choose one of the cheapest, oldest, smallest ships and then say how much they hate it. You get what you pay for.

 

I don't feel the older ships are the best representation of Carnival currently, especially for people who have never cruised before.

Hey now I had a blast on the Fascination. Of course we were in the casino, the pizza place and our room. We did so well on Blackjack we never wanted to be anywhere else.

how do i get in on this? i plan on cruising more in the future.

 

i just finished my 1st ever cruise on rci and I didnt feel like i was getting anything. Pit bosses gave me some stares but none offered me anything. There were swings of +1500 to -1500 in a given session. Played for at least 6-7 hours everyday for 3 days.

 

They gave me some paltry raffle tickets for a cruise which I felt was an insult.

 

Do these cruise offers and the $400-$600 comps only goto high limit players?

 

I consider myself a mid level player. $25-$50 hand average in blackjack. $50-$100 a spin in roulette.

***** my last Carnival Cruse (this was a Premier Cruise) my wife and I had a base bet of 6 dollars each while playing BJ. We were on a 7 night cruise and we played at least four hours a day. We do increase our bet when we do good and there were times we bet $50.00 a hand for a couple of hands. Then if lose a hand we go back down. Anyway on the last day I was given a free cruise for the two of us, up to eight nights in length. I asked why I was given this cruise and I was told because I lost $1500.00.

I think it is safe to say at your level of play Carnival would take notice. As a side note we always cut up, have a good time and make it a point to get to know the pit critters. I have found a good attitude and a friendly handshake goes a long way when it comes to comps.

We just came off the same cruise as the OP and we had a slow team in the MDR the first night (Your time dining) but the next night we had a different team and they were smoking! We requested that team the rest of the week and always had a great pace through dinner. We were out in an hour most nights and that was with the hubby ordering three or four starters, and entree and dessert.

 

The platinum gift we received was the VIFP coffee mug. Yes it does have metal on it so it cannot be used in the microwave but it is still a nice looking mug (with a lid) and we had plenty of beach bags, coolers and tervis tumblers so at least it is something different. :)

Do you remember your servers name that got you in and out in an hour? For that matter if you had a table for two do you remember the table number. Thanks in advance.

We are on the same cruise.

Me three

Is booking a "premier casino cruise" different than booking a carnival "players club offer"?

Please don't hold it against me if I am wrong but I will say yes they are different. A Premier Cruise is only good for certain sailings on certain ships. You will get a letter in the mail showing the dates and ships. It will list the perks, things like a welcome reception, drinks on us cards, priority boarding and how much casino cash you will be receiving.

The letter will plainly state "Premier Cruise".

I have also seen online when I enter my VIFP number an offer from the Players Club that shows discounted sailings and then at the top of the page it will show Premier Cruises I am eligible for. Online it doesn't show how much casino cash I will be receiving.

Thank You so much for the review!!! I am even more excited about my casino cruise.

As stated above, do not miss that meet and greet and if they have the slot tournament or Blackjack tournaments enter them. They were an absolute blast on The Legend.